Method for operating a metal detector and metal detector

Abstract

Methods for operating a metal detector that includes a balanced coil system with a transmitter coil connected to a transmitter unit and first and second receiver coils connected to an input of a receiver unit. The transmitter unit includes a transmitter signal path for which a transmitter signal with at least one fixed or selectable operating frequency and a related quadrature signal are provided. The transmitter signal is applied to an input of a transmitter amplifier that forwards the amplified transmitter signal directly or via a transmitter matching unit to the transmitter coil. The receiver unit includes at least one receiver signal path in which the modulated receiver signal received from the balanced coil system is applied directly or via a receiver matching unit to a receiver amplifier, which applies the amplified modulated receiver signal directly or indirectly to a receiver phase sensitive detector, which compares the modulated receiver signal with reference signals, which correspond to the transmitter signal and the quadrature signal, to produce a demodulated complex receiver signal with in-phase receiver signal components and quadrature receiver signal components, which are processed in a signal processing unit which comprises at least one signal processing path, in which signal components of the complex receiver signal that relate to goods or noise are suppressed and in which signal components originating from metal contaminants are further processed. At least one transmitter measurement channel is provided, which receives a measurement signal taken from the transmitter signal path and which includes a measurement amplifier, which amplifies and forwards the measurement signal directly or indirectly to a measurement phase sensitive detector, which compares the measurement signal with the reference signals, which correspond to the transmitter signal and the quadrature signal, to produce a complex measurement signal with in-phase measurement signal components and quadrature measurement components, which complex measurement signal and complex receiver signal are applied to a first correction module in which signal components caused by instabilities of the transmitter unit are removed from the complex receiver signal.